


A Pirate's Life For Me

by Springmagpies



Series: AU August 2020 [31]
Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: F/M, Humor, Pirates, Pirates of the Caribbean AU, Romance, Shenanigans
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-31
Updated: 2020-08-31
Packaged: 2021-03-07 00:48:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,466
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26228197
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Springmagpies/pseuds/Springmagpies
Summary: Jemma Simmons has always been fascinated by the ocean. One day while sailing to her new home in the Caribbean, her father set to be the Royal Governor there, she notices something in the water. A boy, stranded in the middle of the ocean after a terrible ship wreck. Little does she know that meeting this boy will change her life forever. For in his possession, and soon hers, is the medallion of a pirate.A Pirates of the Caribbean AU
Relationships: Leo Fitz & Lance Hunter & Jemma Simmons, Leo Fitz/Jemma Simmons
Series: AU August 2020 [31]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1862158
Comments: 10
Kudos: 15
Collections: AOS AU August 2020





	A Pirate's Life For Me

**Author's Note:**

> I said no more multi-chapters starting in AU August, but I totally forgot that I had this fic planned for day 31. Oops! Anyway, enjoy!

Jemma had always been fascinated by the ocean. It was a mystical place, with deep uncharted waters and waves that seemed to have minds of their own. Sitting upon a ship within its vastness, one might feel small in comparison and frightened by the feelings. She, however, was excited by the adventure and curious about what lay beyond the blue horizon. 

That morning, however, Jemma could not see the horizon very well at all. On her way to her new home in the Caribbean where her father was to be Royal Governor of the island, she had spent most of her days on the ship staring out at the open ocean. While her routine was the same, the weather wasn’t and that day brought a deep chill aboard the boat. Fog closed in upon the vessel to the point where it felt as though they weren’t moving at all. Only the lapping of the waves against the side of the boat and the wind in the sails gave away that they were moving. 

Jemma leaned over the side of the boat, missing the horizon but quite content in observing the interesting weather phenomenon they were sailing within. She hummed quietly to herself an old tune she had heard one of the shipmates sing. He had been recounting a dangerous encounter he had had on a previous ship. It was the same man who came up next to Jemma just as she started to repeat the tune.

“I wouldn’t go singing that song if I were you,” said Phil Coulson, a rather friendly warrant officer. 

“Why not, sir?” Jemma asked.

“Bad luck. They say it draws pirates.”

There was a scoff behind them. “Do you really believe that, Coulson?” asked Grant Ward. He was a striking naval officer, but not the kindest. Jemma felt she didn’t like him very much. He tended to be cold hearted and hard headed, not the nicest of combinations to be in the presence of. 

“I do. I’ve seen it.”

“Well, I guess not recently,” Ward said, drawing his hands behind his back, “I think piracy just might be going out of fashion.”

Jemma raised up her chin. “Why do you think that?”

“The amount of them that are going to the rope,” he replied simply. 

Coulson took a step forward. “I don’t think this is the best conversation to be having with the Governor's twelve-year-old daughter Ward.”

“Why not?” Jemma said indignantly. She changed her tone in hopes that she could make them understand. “I’m actually quite fascinated by the subject.”

Coulson turned to her and placed a hand on her shoulder. “I know Miss Simmons, that’s why I don’t think it’s the best conversation.”

With that, he and Grant Ward went back to their duties on deck, leaving Jemma to return to her post staring out at the ocean. It was as she examined the way the front of the ship parted the water that she noticed something drifting lazily in the calm sea. It was a large plank of wood and looked as though it had come off the side of the ship.

“Odd,” Jemma whispered but she cut herself off with a gasp. There upon the floating bit of debris was a boy. The moment she had noticed it, she spun on her heel and shouted out at the crew on deck. 

“Help,” she cried, “there’s a boy floating in the ocean!”

At her call, several of the men ran to the side of the ship, their eyes searching for the boy. It wasn’t hard to locate him and it was made even easier with the light burning from the ship he had come from. It appeared to be a merchant ship, what with all the cargo bobbing in the water. The boy seemed to be the only one to have survived. 

“Man overboard!” somebody bellowed. Another called out instructions while a few more gave out directions for the locations of supplies. Soon they had a team in the water and the boy back on the boat. 

Jemma rushed over the moment they had him on deck. She had to shove past several large and sweat smelling men to get close, but she got there eventually. He looked about her age with lean lanky limbs and a pale complexion. His hair was a wet mop of curls that stuck to his face and his clothes were rather shambled and singed. 

The crew left the boy lying unconscious on the sea-sprayed deck, moving to look for more survivors. This left Jemma alone with him and she informed Coulson that she would take care of him while they started the search. 

“It’s alright,” she said to the boy. She didn’t know whether he could hear her, but he was shaking even in his current state. The poor thing. He was all alone. “Don’t worry,” she continued, “I’m here to take care of you.” 

With gentle fingers and a light touch, she unstuck his hair from his forehead and pushed it off his face. His eyelids fluttered and his hands twitched. He was stirring but not yet awake. 

“Shhh, you’re safe,” she soothed. She put her hand on his and gave it a reassuring squeeze. It was then that she saw a flash of gold appear from under the fabric of his partly torn open shirt. Looking at the gleaming bit of metal more carefully, Jemma’s eyes widened in shock and recognition. 

It was a symbol she had seen in one of her books. A hollow-eyed skull with a smile like death’s. The symbol of a pirate. 

“You’re one of them,” she whispered, looking back at the boy's face. His features were so soft in sleep and he looked so kind. Her gaze drifted back down to the medallion hung with twine around his neck. Her fingers found the gold and she lifted it closer to examine it. 

The boy awoke with a choking gasp, as if he still had had some water in his lungs. Jemma dropped the medallion and sat back with her hands behind her. The boy pushed himself to sit, but didn’t make it very far, only lifting up to his elbows. Jemma scurried forward on her knees and put a hand lightly upon his leg. 

“Where--where am I?” he said shakily.

“You’re aboard a naval ship,” she said, “don’t worry. You’re safe.”

“Wh-who are you?”

She gave him a reassuring smile. “I’m Jemma Simmons.”

“Leopold Fitz,” he replied. But he didn’t say much more as exhaustion pulled him back under and he fell back asleep. 

“It’s alright, Leopold Fitz,” Jemma said, “I’m here to watch over you. I’ll keep you safe.”

Just as she said it, she heard heavy footsteps fall behind her. The steps of a naval officer. The steps of Grant Ward. Thinking quickly, Jemma tore the medallion from off of Fitz’s neck. She squeezed the bit of metal in her palm as she launched herself to her feet, thrusting her hands behind her. 

“Did you gain any information from him, Miss Simmons?” Ward asked, not even looking at the boy asleep at Jemma’s feet. 

“His name is Leopold Fitz. That’s all he said before he fell asleep again.”

“Hmm,” Ward said. “If he wakes again, alert Coulson.”

“Have you found anyone else from his ship? Are they alright?”

Ward’s brows drew together and his lips formed a line. “No. And I don’t think we will.” And he stocked off without another word. 

“A pirate all alone,” Jemma said, coming to kneel back down by Fitz. She stroked his hair again with the hand not holding the pirate’s symbol. He leaned into her touch out of reflex and it made a small smile appear on Jemma’s face. “Actually, you are not alone. You’ve got me.”

When he had gotten his hair from off his face again, she placed the medallion before her eyes once more. The skull stared back at her and it’s smile imprinted itself in her memory. It was not the only thing to do so that day. Between Leopold Fitz and the medallion, one would think Jemma would have had enough things to remember about that misty morning upon the sea. But there was one more thing to add to that list. 

Holding the gold in her hand that seemed unable to retain the heat of her palm, Jemma looked back out at the ocean. Had she not looked up just then she might have missed it. But she had looked up and so she had seen it. A ship with tattered black sails traveling between hazy grey clouds of mist at a speed she had never seen. And flying high above its mast, a skull and crossbones. 

It was that day she had first seen it. A pirate’s ship. 

**Author's Note:**

> Come talk to me on Tumblr @springmagpies!


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